– A two-year legal fight over the state law banning so-called “ballot selfies” ended on Monday.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a September 2016 ruling by the First Circuit Court of Appeals that declared the 2014 law an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment. The nation’s highest court let stand the lower court ruling striking down the law.

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The state had argued that the ban was necessary to deter bribery in the form of vote buying and coercion of voters. The law made it illegal, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, for voters to take photos of their ballots and share them on social media.

The circuit court unanimously held, “New Hampshire may not impose such a broad restriction on speech banning ballot selfies in order to combat an unsubstantiated and hypothetical danger. We repeat the old adage: ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.’”

After the Supreme Court issued its notice that will not review the case, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire, which challenged the law in October 2014 on behalf of three voters, declared victory.

New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner had the opposite view.

“I’m disappointed at any attempt that chips away at the voters’ right to have a free and fair election,” Gardner told WMUR. “What’s paramount to that is the secret ballot – to be able to vote without fear of intimidation, retribution, coercion."

“Any attempt that chips away at that, I think is a step in the wrong direction.”

But ACLU-NH Legal Director Gilles Bissonnette said, “The First Circuit correctly recognized that political speech is essential to a functioning democracy. The First Amendment does not allow the state to, as it was doing here, broadly ban innocent political speech with the hope that such a sweeping ban will address underlying criminal conduct.

“The best way to combat vote buying and voter coercion is to investigate and prosecute cases of vote buying and coercion, not ban innocent political speech,” Bissonnette said.

“Voting is an act of extraordinary importance,” said William Christie, who was co-counsel on the case with Bissonnette and two weeks ago was elected legal counsel for the New Hampshire Democratic Party. “And it is because of this importance that the First Amendment also ensures that citizens are free to communicate their experiences at the polls, including the people for whom they voted if they so wish.”

The ACLU said the appeals court decision, which is now left standing, affected the 1st Circuit states of Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire as well as the territory of Puerto Rico.

According to The Associated Press, about two dozen states prohibit voters from sharing photos of themselves with their ballots. A New York judge last fall upheld that state’s prohibition on ballot selfies, while another federal judge ruled that Colorado’s ban violated free speech and imposed a temporary injunction blocking it is enforcement.